1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for employing electronically-readable/writable monitoring modules associated with customer replaceable components or units (CRUs) as a vehicle by which to update non-volatile memories (NVMs) in customer owned and/or controlled image forming devices.
2. Related Art
All manner of image forming devices use consumable products, such as inks and toners, and otherwise include customer replaceable components or units (CRUs), many of which are routinely replaceable based on a limited service life. In the latter instance, the service life of a particular CRU may be tracked and measured, for example, according to a number of image forming operations that the CRU may undertake. For the purposes of this disclosure, the terms of CRU and consumable may be used interchangeably.
Image forming devices make extensive beneficial use of a capacity to externally monitor the status of the one or more CRUs in the image forming devices. The monitoring of the CRUs is often implemented by way of an electronically-readable module associated with the CRU for monitoring one or more characteristics of the CRU. The monitored characteristics can include static information, i.e., information that does not change over the usable service life of the CRU, such as a model or serial number and/or compatibility of the CRU with the image forming device within which the CRU is installed. The monitoring module can also be used to record, in an electronically-readable format, dynamically changing information relating to a particular characteristic of the CRU. Such dynamic information may include, for example, information on use, maintenance, failures, diagnostics, remanufacture, remaining service life or remaining consumable level(s), among other characteristics of the customer replaceable component.
Outputs from these monitoring modules are received locally by circuitry in the image forming devices that is designed to read from and write to the monitoring modules. A user may be presented with information regarding the outputs from these monitoring modules at the image forming device via some manner of graphical user interface (GUI) associated with the image forming device within which the CRU is installed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,621 to Richards et al., which is commonly assigned and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses CRUs that are augmented with electronically-readable/writable monitoring chips containing static information for identification of the CRU, and/or dynamic information relating to an operating status of the CRU. Richards refers to such electronically-readable/writable monitoring chips as customer replaceable unit monitors or CRUMs.
Richards explains that, when an individual CRU is installed in an image forming device, communication is established with the CRUM located within, or externally mounted to, the individual CRU. The CRUM enables the image forming device to track one or more characteristics of the CRU by reading data from, and potentially updating the information contained by writing data to, the CRUM.